Round Five of The Foundation. The Winchester Incident is set in the Winchester Mystery House
, and is a doomed flashback round based on Corpse Party.
This game provides examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: The in-betweeners were led to believe this was a mission to find Tages. It's actually the mission where he was lost in the first place.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: Week 2 begins by revealing how the rotating Vessel mechanic for the round will work. At first the new Vessel appears to be Sho, the first culprit, but he's quickly literally thrown aside by Olympia, his victim and the real new Vessel.
- The Corruption: The curse itself, which amplifies negative feelings among the living and brings the dead under its control.
- Doomed by Canon: The entire player cast. Subverted when Sissel, King Gilgamesh (in an unorthodox way), and Saphir manage to escape.
- Dramatic Irony: Some of the characters expect to be rewarded with special treatment for rescuing a high-ranking Foundation official. In fact, their failure will lead to 6350s are treated as D-Class in the modern Foundation.
- Everyone Knows Morse: Several characters know Morse from their Foundation training. This includes Agent T and some of the player characters, allowing them to communicate by tapping on opposite sides of a wall. It also includes Olympia.
- Foregone Conclusion: The mission will fail, presumably ending in a Total Party Kill.
- Framing Device: The round is presented in-universe as a series of recordings being watched by characters from the first four rounds.
- Face–Heel Turn: The Vessels, who play the "host" role for this round, are chosen from among the dead player characters. According to Olympia, this only means they've fallen to the curse's influence faster, and the other dead will follow eventually.
- Hope Spot: In week 2, the Agents make contact with Agent T, a survivor from the previous group, and arrange to meet with him the next day to exchange information. The plan seems to go smoothly, with a group of Agents keeping the Vessel distracted while a smaller group goes after Agent T. They find his corpse, and then the ghosts reveal they knew what was going on all along.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: In regards to the vote reveals that happened as to who voted for Rin, which results in the largest, nastiest verbal fight amongst the group by far, week four. Needless to say, things didn't go well.
- Mythology Gag: The project to build more Yggdroids like Olympia is called, of course, "Project Olympia."
- No Holds Barred Beat Down: Subete attempts this on the vessels towards the end of trial week four. Unfortunately, it doesn't go well.
- Official Couple: Battler/Rin; Romani/Gilgamesh; Dazai/Yachi/WWX(/Ango); Giovanni/Sho/Flayn. Hikage/Subete becomes canon post-endgame.
- Send in the Search Team: The premise of the round: the 6350s are searching for a previous Foundation team that went missing, including a high-ranking member.
- Sadistic Choice: Zabuza presents one in the third trial, despite being caught. Though it's more of a Moral Dilemma as it involves the sacrifice of two innocents so that he could leave and potentially retrieve help.
- Time Stands Still: The round ends with SCP-343 freezing time within Tages's barrier.
- The Needs of the Many: How some of Team Practical judge the reason for why Rin was to be chosen as week 3's innocent sacrifice. Though, not without consequences.
- Unintentional Final Message: The players' first conversation with Agent T is also their last.
- Wham Episode: Wednesday of week 2, Agent T turns up dead, with Olympia and Sho promptly revealing that they were aware of his conversation with the player characters.
